Purpose
by toriisthenewcancer
Summary: Seven years after Breaking Dawn. Nessie is finally hitting the age where her body stops growing and she will be forever young. But does she want that life? Or a life with purpose? Better summary inside! Warning: Major Breaking Dawn spoilers.
1. Preface

**Rating**: M for sexual content, language, and some violence.

**Summary**: It's been seven years since the Volturi had paid a visit to the small town of Forks, Washington. It's also been seven years since Nessie and her family was saved from death. Now Nessie is turning seven when actually she has the body and maturity of a sixteen year old. She doesn't know much about her past. In fact, she can't even remember her first year of life or really her own life in general. But one thing she does know is that her family is--well--different. And that after she does hit her seventh year, she will stop aging and be immortal just like her family. But does she want that? Or does Nessie want a different life? A life with meaning. A life with _purpose_.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own any of the characters involved in this fanfiction. They all belong to the talented Stephenie Meyer.

**A/N**: This is my first story here on the site, so I hope you enjoy! The story is spoken in Nessie or Renesmee's POV (point of view). Also this is meant to take place seven years after _Breaking Dawn_, so if you haven't read that yet, there will be major spoilers. With that said; kick back, relax, and enjoy the Preface for _Purpose_.

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**Preface.**

Birthday. The dictionary's definition of a birthday is; a day marking or commemorating the origin, founding, or beginning of something. My definition? A day marking the rest of my long, never-ending life. Well that day was coming quickly, rapidly even, and I had no way of stopping it. See, I was born just seven years ago. I don't look it though. I don't even act it. My parents tell me my body and maturity level should actually be around a sixteen year olds. Confusing? Yeah, let me start from the beginning.

I knew I had always been different. I knew that for as long as I could remember. But I didn't exactly know why. I lived with my parents in this cottage in the woods. It was quite big for just the three of us, but if you could see the house the rest of my family lived in, you would understand why. The three of us as well as my aunts, uncles, and grandparents lived in the small town of Forks, Washington. But we were isolated from society. I never saw anyone else because I was shunned of actually going anywhere where my parents couldn't see me. That was one way I knew I had to be different. Another reason was how my family looked and especially how they acted. They're all stunningly gorgeous and have the palest skin you could ever see on any person. They also have a weird eye color. Topaz. Another weird thing about my family, they never sleep. They also never eat. And they would leave for extended periods of time. I wouldn't be alone of course. Someone such as my uncle, Emmett, or my grandmother, Esme, would stay with me. I would always ask where everyone went and each time I would get the same lousy answer; "You'll know when you're older." Or if I was with Emmett it would be, "You'll know when you...woo-hoo! Touchdown 49ers! Yes!" He's always watching some type of sporting event. For the longest time, I never knew what exactly my family was. Because they were definitely not human. Not even close.

It wasn't until I was three, or about eight in human years, when I finally figured out who my family was and about what _I_ was. I remember it being late into the evening and the pale moonlight was shining through my window and onto my skin, making it paler than it already was. I couldn't sleep because my room was too quiet. In fact, the whole cottage was quiet. Usually, one of my aunts or uncles would be over chatting loudly away with my parents and I would have to stuff my face under my pillow to muffle out the sounds. But that night, it was silent. At first I thought that maybe my parents were at the main house where everyone else lived. But having an overprotective father, who always made sure I was close by, made me think otherwise.

I got as far as the path leading up to my cottage's front door when I realized I was being pushed back inside. I zoomed quickly passed the living room and my parent's bedroom until I was back onto my bed with two dark figures staring back. It wasn't until the figures walked into the moonlight that I realized who they were.

"Mom? Dad? Where were you guys?" I asked with shock in my voice, trying to catch my own breath. How did they move me so fast that I almost got the wind knocked out of me? The pondering thought in my head soon vanished when I realized my mother's eyes. They were no longer that odd yellow color anymore. They were pitch black. Once she realized that I was staring at her face, my mother quickly turned her head. She looked upset and tightly wrapped her arms around her body. My father responded by walking towards her and replacing her arms with his. "What's going on?" The question came out in almost a whisper. I could hear a hint of fear in my voice.

My father began to whisper something to my mother and soon both were on each side of me. Mom took one of my hands into hers, they were slightly cold like they always were. Dad just stood still, both hands clenched into fists. Seeing him like that and thinking about what my mother's eyes had looked like before made my heart beat rapidly. I swore both of them could hear it hitting my chest.

"I didn't want to have to do this so early," my father's words came out hard, "but I don't think we can wait any longer." He began pacing my room slowly, making tight turns once he made his way to a wall. Then before he spoke again, he stopped and stared at my mother. I saw her head nod slowly through the corner of my eye. Dad then moved towards me and in one graceful step, he was sitting next to me on my bed.

"Renesmee," I knew he was serious since he never said my full name, "do you ever wonder about what exactly we are?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean do you ever wonder why you are the only one that sleeps? Why you're the only one that eats the food that we cook?" I pondered every word he spoke. Well yeah I wondered why, but since my family never said anything about it, I didn't ask. So I softly nodded my head to his questions. "Your mother and I don't do these things because, well, because we aren't human. We are vampires."

Vampire. The dictionary's definition of a vampire is; a preternatural being, commonly believed to be a reanimated corpse, that is said to suck the blood of sleeping persons at night. My definition? What each and every person I know and love are. And what is half of me. My parents told me that I had been born a miracle. No two vampires had ever concieved a child before. But here I was, still alive and kicking after seven years. Though, I'm not fully a vampire. I'm half. The other half of me is human. While my parents and the rest of my family can no longer have a pulse, I have a rapidly beating heart and blood that runs through my veins. Also while my family's eyes are topaz, mine are chocolate brown. I can also do a lot of other human things such as sleep and eat real food. I can also drink blood, which I choose _not _to do. Supposedly that's the only vampire trait I recieved.

Well that and one other thing.

Once my body hits full maturity, which is around seven years old, I will stop aging. I will also share another common thing that the rest of my family has, immortality. At first when you hear that you are going to live forever with your family, it sounds great. Especially to a three--well--eight year old. But now, all I can think about is actually living forever. And ever. And ever. I don't want that. I don't want to stay in this sixteen year old body for the rest of eternity. I want to grow up, have a family of my own, and even fall in love. You know, like in the movies? I wouldn't ever get to experience that though. Maybe the love thing. But then he would grow old, die, and I would still be here. Sixteen and heartbroken.

There is hope though. There's got to be right? Don't get me wrong, I love my parents and family more than they could ever know, but I didn't choose this life. And maybe, just maybe, I could get a second chance at a new life. A life with meaning. A life with answers and no secrets. A life with purpose.

*****


	2. Chapter 1: Don't Go Into the Woods Alone

**1. Don't Go Into the Woods Alone**

I've never been actually afraid in my life. Never. Though sitting in the middle of the deep and haunting woods of Forks, Washington made me rethink this whole "being scared" thing. I wasn't alone though. My aunt Alice was sitting next to me, her legs gracefully crossed on top of the other. Her eyes were sealed shut and she was, well, I guess you could say she was _breathing _deep. Though, I knew it was just to make me feel normal.

Heh, normal. That's a word that was ripped out of my mental dictionary a long time ago. There was nothing exactly normal about my life. You see, I'm currently six years, eleven months, and five days old. Though when you look at me, you would probably guess that I'm around fifteen years, eleven months, and five days old. Because, really, that's how old my body and mentality is. And no, I don't have Progeria if that's what you're thinking. I was just born this way. I'm actually quite healthy, according to my grandfather Carlisle (who also happens to be a doctor). How I was born this way is actually the bigger question. Ugh, I really hate telling people this. Well actually I've never told this to anyone. Anyway, the reason I'm this way is because, well, because my parents are...vampires.

There, I said it. Vampires. Now, I'm still a little foggy on the details since my parents think it's a good idea to wait until I hit full maturity to give me all of the information on vampires but I do know a few things. Like, instead of drinking human blood, my family drinks animal blood. I'm actually half human, half vampire (and I'm still wondering how two vampires can make a half human) so drinking blood wouldn't harm me. Though I choose not to drink blood because I cannot stand the smell. Yuck. I also know that my family can't sleep, can't breathe (well they don't have to anyway), they have amazing speed and strength, and they are immortal. Which is one of the only traits I possess from them. And I totally hate it. Oh, there is another trait that I kind of get and that's when a vampire's (or half-vampire's) skin hits UV rays, their skin sparkles. Which is what Alice's and mine was doing at that exact moment in the forest. Though, mine wasn't as bright as hers.

We were meditating. Something Alice thinks all girls should do in their teenage years to help relieve stress. I really don't have stress, though, because I never get to actually go anywhere or do anything. My parents think that if I head into town and show myself people will get suspicious or something. They also don't know exactly what will happen once I hit my seventh birthday. That seventh birthday is when I'll hit full maturity and when I'll stop aging. I'm going to live for eternity. Gross.

While Alice was breathing deeply, I slowly opened my eyes absorbing the forest around me. It's not that I was _scared_, I mean I had a vampire next to me who could see anything coming our way (Alice can see the future. Cool, right?). No, I wasn't scared. I was more...more anxious than anything. My heart began pounding wildly in my chest.

"Nessie," Alice's voice was like a hum. I looked over at her and she was still in her meditating position. Her eyes were still shut tight.

"Yeah?"

"Relax. Do I need to get Jasper out here for you?" I laughed and closed my eyes, trying to slow down my rapid heart which I knew she could hear perfectly. Vampires had crazy hearing as well. Why couldn't I get cool traits like that? A few minutes had passed and, honestly, this was getting boring and the reason for my anxiety had long gone.

"Alice?"

"Yes, Nessie?" She was still in a perfect pose.

"I think I'm going to go back to the cottage. I really need to finish up on a few homework assignments." I listened as Alice sighed, but then soon nodded her head and, as quickly as I could, I got up to begin walking back to my home. It wasn't till I was about 100 yards from the cottage when I thought about why I had had anxiety earlier. I hurriedly turned back and walked towards the woods again, making sure that my mind was focusing on the homework assignment that my tutor, Kate, had assigned. The reasoning? My father could read minds and throughout the past few years I've learned exactly what to think when my mind wanted to wander somewhere else. Which is what was happening at that exact moment. If he would have heard what I was really doing going back into the woods, he would be standing in front of me in less than a second telling me to go back home.

Instead of walking back to the middle of the forest where Alice still was, I headed in a different direction. My father always told me never to go into the woods alone because it was "too dangerous". (I could just hear him saying that right now. Ugh. You know, I really hated when my parents tried to shelter me. I mean, what's really going to happen when I have a house full of vampires not too far away?) But today, I was ignoring him and doing something that I needed to do. Soon, though, the forest started looking darker and, well, scarier. _Damn, my dad was right. I guess I'll just try again when the sun is a little brighter._ I turned my back to head home.

That's when I heard it. The one thing that I was looking for.

"Hello? I know you're here." I spoke out loud like one of those dumb girls in slasher flicks that usually gets their heads chopped off soon after. The ground shook a little and I heard some rustling just a few feet behind me. My eyes quickly shut tight and I could feel my heart beat even faster than it did earlier when I was with Alice. "I'm not here to hurt you." The rustling got louder and louder. Then, I could feel warmth on my neck. It was right behind me. At that moment, I wanted to scream as loud as I could so someone could rescue me and I would be safe again in my bedroom working on my essay about fashion of the 1920's. Though, the intrigue on this "thing" made me stop.

I had seen it before, whatever the thing was. In fact, it was my only memory of my first year of life. And recently I had been seeing it more. Though, it would leave as soon as I tried to get close to it. That wasn't the case this time. With my eyes still closed, I breathed like Alice had shown me for our meditation and turned towards the creature. The part of my brain that alerted me with fear was now slowly drifting away and the excitement was creeping in. It's breath was now like fire on my face (a temperature I'm not used to). With one last deep breath, I opened my eyes.

The sight before me almost made me jump in terror. And I think the creature sensed it. It began backing up on all four of its legs and instead of me doing the same, I walked towards it. "Shh, it's okay." What was I doing? This thing was huge! It's mouth, which probably held enormous teeth inside, came to my shoulders and had deep, scary eyes. After I took in the whole creature, I realized, though, that it was just a big...dog. Let me rephrase that, a very big dog. It didn't look threatening. It actually looked _scared_. Hah! Scared of me? I didn't think I was scary. Now, me in the mornings, that's a completely different story.

The animal froze, it's eyes widening as I walked closer to it. I slowly brought my hands to its nose, knowing that's the best way for the dog to not feel threatened by you and let it get your scent. It stared at my semi-sparkling hand (I hadn't even noticed the sun coming out) like it was trying to memorize every detail of it and soon sniffed it. I froze, not knowing if it would freak out on me.

"Eww!" Before I knew it, his tongue was on my face leaving a slobbery trail behind. Then the animal began jumping around, making the whole forest floor shake. It looked like one of those cartoon dogs that got excited when they were getting a treat or something and I couldn't help but laugh.

"You're so cute," I said as I petted it's russet-colored fur. To my surprise, it was super soft and very warm. "I don't know why I was so afraid of you before." The animal's eyes had the most adorable glint in them that put a smile on my face. The total opposite of the frightened look a few minutes ago. But that soon faded away when I heard a howl in the distance. I must of jumped a few feet, which made me fall to the ground. Looking up at the creature in front of me, I noticed it's eyes were now filled with sadness. It licked my face again and soon ran off in the distance. Watching as it ran into the dark wooded area, I noticed something totally strange about this creature. There was a pair of blue jeans tied on it's back leg.

*****


	3. Chapter 2: Silence is Golden

**2. Silence is Golden**

"Nessie! Nessie!" My dad's familiar voice brought me back to reality. Crap, I forgot about where my mind was at the moment. I quickly got up from the ground and wiped off the leaves and dirt that had now stuck to my jeans. My dad's footsteps were loud as they stomped into the leaves behind me. "Nessie, why are you out here? And alone?"

Quickly changing my mind to lie about what I was just doing and what I just saw, I turned towards my father and began answering his question. "Sorry Dad, it's just that I was walking back from my meditation session with Alice when I got completely turned around. I must have tripped on that, uh," my eyes frantically scanned the ground trying to find a stick or something that I could have tripped on, "that leaf right there!" I raced to the leaf and picked it up, like I was showing him the final clue in a murder mystery. "Silly, right? I was on my way home. Promise!" By the way my father's face looked, I knew my lie wasn't working. Okay, Plan B. I dropped the leaf and walked up to father, wrapping my arms around him to give him the largest hug. Then, like I've done numerous times before, I smiled my biggest and brightest smile I could. He soon smiled back. Success!

"I believe you Nessie," he ruffled my curly, bronze hair, "But don't wander into these woods without one of us knowing, please? It could be dangerous."

"Okay, I will."

"Now, why don't we walk back to the house? Grandma Esme made fettucini alfredo. Your favorite." My father held out his pale hand and I held on with my own. His skin was slightly cooler than mine.

"Yeah and I bet she cooked enough to feed an army. You know, it's just me eating it!"

"Well, there may also be another guest tonight."

I think I might have jumped to what my father had said. Jumped in a good way, I mean. Whenever we had a guest over, it was always the same person.

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"Grandpa Charlie!" I squealed like a little girl as I ran towards my grandfather who was sitting on the couch in the living room. Before he could even get up, I crashed into him, giving the tightest hug I could.

"Nes, sweetheart, you're squishing me."

"Opps, sorry," I laughed while letting go. Having Grandpa Charlie over always meant so much to me. Though, he wasn't really my grandfather by blood. He just helped in "raising" my mom when she came here to Forks, Washington. Almost like an adoptive parent. You know, she actually went to school with actual _humans _to make it look like she was a normal teenage girl. When really she was an immortal vampire. Dun dun dun! Hah! But the coolest thing was while she was in school, she met my father. Who also happened to be a vampire going to school to look like a normal teenage boy. It always baffles me that they met that way. But it's also a romantic story and I always thank my grandpa Charlie for helping with my mom because if he wouldn't have taken her in, I wouldn't be here.

"It's okay." He got up from the couch and motioned me towards the dining room where a huge bowl of fettucini was sitting. The aroma was mouthwatering. Almost too mouthwatering when I noticed drool going escaping my mouth. "So, Nessie, tell me. How is it almost being seven years old?" I sat down in my chair and he sat beside me. The rest of the family quickly followed and sat at their normal spots. Though, they wouldn't be eating tonight. They were just there to listen to the latest chatter.

I giggled at my grandpa's question, "I don't know. I guess it feels...uh...cool?"

"You know, Charlie, Nessie is going to be having a pretty big party and we would love it if you would like to come," my grandmother, Esme, asked as she shoveled some pasta onto his plate.

"Yes, Dad, you must come. It's going to be a big event. We're having a DJ and a dance floor," my mother chimed in while she looked over in my direction and smiled. I smiled faintly back. I'm really grateful for what my parents do for me, don't get me wrong. But I felt as if this party was more of a funeral, rather than a celebration of my birthday. It marked the day I stop aging. The day where I will be immortal, just like my family. Something that I thought was a fantastic idea...when I was three. Though, now, I'm almost sixteen--erm, seven--and I think the complete opposite. Living forever? Where's the fun in that?

"I think it will be a whole lot of fun, don't you Nessie?" My dad's eyes looked coldly towards me. Shoot! I forgot to shield my mind and think happy thoughts. Sometimes I wish my dad's ability had an on and off switch.

"Ye-yeah! It's going to be great. And I can't wait for everyone to be here," I focused on my pasta below me and began to swirl it with my fork. Suddenly, I didn't feel hungry anymore.

Once dinner was over, Grandma Esme decided to show Charlie and the rest of the family my decorations for the party upstairs. This was my perfect time to go back to the cottage and actually let my mind wander slightly. Sometimes when my father's mind was focused on something else, he didn't exactly hear other thoughts. As soon as the last pair of feet left the last step leading to the upstairs, I bolted out the back door towards the cottage. Once inside my room, I plopped onto my bed and just sat in the silence. Ahh, silence. A rare sound in my life. When you have a family that never sleeps, you're bound to have noise 24/7.

"Nessie?" Two cool hands were on my arms and my eyes quickly shot open. A golden pair was staring back.

"Al-Alice?" My hands groggily wiped my eyes and I sat up on my elbows.

She giggled, "You fell asleep, silly head."

"Well that's what I tend to do when I'm tired." The word "tired" hit Alice like she just figured out the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle.

"Oh sorry! I didn't mean to wake you up. I was just wondering, since everyone else is out hunting and I have babysitting duty, if you would like to go take a walk with me?" At that second I wanted to just fall back in bed, but Alice was great at getting her way, just like me. So, without protest, I got out of bed and headed out into the cool night. Besides my mother and father, Alice was the closest to me in the house. I think it's because she's the closest to my mother which means she's always over at the cottage. She practically is my sister. I could tell her anything. Well, I thought I could anyway.

"Alice?"

"Yeah?"

"Have you ever seen wolves in the forest?" Alice slowed her pace.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I saw one today. And it was absolutely huge! I mean it had to be as big as a horse or something." Alice completely stopped.

"Nessie, did this wolf get near you?"

"Well, yeah. But it was really sweet. It didn't try to hurt me or anything, it just licked my face." I laughed, remembering the trail of slobber it left behind.

Alice reached out and grabbed my hand. She had a serious look in her eyes, like the look she gets before hunting. "Nessie, promise me you wont go near that wolf again. Okay?"

"But-"

"No buts. Just don't go near it. And if it gets near you, get away as quickly as you can." I nodded, though I mentally lied in my head. I mean, this creature intrigued me somehow. There was no thing like it. And I definitely never saw a documentary about oddly large wolves on _Animal Planet_.

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The next day, my mom thought it would be a great idea if we put together my guest list for my birthday party. She thought it would be the perfect way to get some mother/daughter bonding in. I could think of 100 other ways to do so without it involving my funeral--I mean birthday party.

"So I've got all of the Denalis and Dad. The Romanians are coming in. Lets see, umm, Mary, Peter, Charlotte, Zafrina, Amun, and Kebi. Who else do I have left, Nes?" My mind had zoned off and I couldn't even tell you the names my mother listed. "Nessie, sweetie, are you there?" I saw my mother's hand flash in front of my face, taking me out of my trance.

"Oh, ye-yeah. Umm," I took the address book my mother had given me to tell her names of all of her friends and read down the list, "Did you get Ben and Tia from Egypt?"

"Oh yeah! I need to write those down. Who else?"

"I think that's it, Mom."

"Alright. Well, I need to go make the invitations. Do you need to finish any homework? Kate's going to be here soon." Shoot! I forgot about my essay.

"Yeah, just a small essay I need to type." She nodded and kissed my forehead before leaving my room. It didn't take long to realize I still had my mother's address book in my hand.

"Ugh, better get this to her before she makes it back to the house," I spoke out loud as I got up from the ground. As I did, I heard a light noise. Like a piece of paper hitting the ground. I looked down and saw just that. It must have fallen out of the book. Of course, curiosity got the best of me and I opened it up. On it was an address and phone number next to a name that didn't look familiar to me at all. _Jacob Black_.

*****


	4. Chapter 3: Human Boys are Hot

**A/N**: Thanks for the great feedback guys!! I love seeing such positive reviews :D

**3. Human Boys are Hot**

Do you know how many Jacob Black's there are in this country? 2,514 (you can Google it, if you don't believe me). I was only looking for one. Okay, I wasn't actually _looking _for this Jacob Black guy. I was just kind of curious of who he might be and how my mother knew him. Was he one of those crazy vampires that my uncle Emmett would talk about to try and scare me? Hmm, maybe. I mean, why would his address and phone number be crumpled up in that address book? Well, I guess a little bit more research wouldn't hurt.

Re-opening my laptop and downsizing my half-finished essay, I pulled up the search engine and typed this so-called Jacob Black's address in the search bar. Of course things had to be difficult because only a few things were written down. I mean, all the paper said was the street name and number. And some odd thing called La Push. What the heck is a La Push? After making sure everything was typed correctly on the search bar, I clicked enter. _Wait_.

"La Push is in Washington?" I scrolled down some more, "And it's just about 45 minutes from Forks? Well if that's the case, why doesn't Mom want to-"

"How is my star pupil?!" I think I must have jumped about ten feet from my bed when the high-pitched voice of my tutor, Kate, entered the room. As I landed back down on my bed, so did my laptop. Well, technically, it would have landed on the hardwood floor. But Kate, being the fast vampire she is, caught the computer and returned it safely to my side before it could be harmed. What would I do if everyone I knew wasn't a vampire?

"Hi Kate. Thanks for catching that for me," I said nervously, hoping she wouldn't wonder what I was looking at.

"No problem. Really though, I didn't think you would have gotten your mother's grace."

Her grace? Hah! I was the clumsiest half-vampire to walk this planet. My mother was like a freaking ballerina times one hundred. "Huh?"

Kate's face froze. "Oh, heh, never mind. Now, did you finish your essay?" Shoot! Once again, I forgot about that stupid essay.

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"Really, Rosalie, I don't think blush is really going to help add color to my face. I'm pale enough as is is!" The next thing I knew, a cool hand was covering my mouth.

"Nessie, I swear, you are worse than your mother when it comes to makeup," soon enough, a brush was sweeping across my face, "Now hold still. I'm almost done." Once the bristles left my skin, I couldn't have been happier. My aunt was right, makeup was definitely not my thing. And it's not that I don't like to dress up and look all pretty and stuff. It's just that I'm so pale and that I always feel like a clown or something when color is actually put on my face. "Okay, now look in the mirror." Though I dreaded what I was about to witness, it was better to just get it over with. So, I turned around in my chair to face the over sized mirror.

"Woah," It's pretty much the only word that I could think of, "Rose, this looks-"

"Beautiful?" Aunt Rosalie said as she stared into the mirror with me.

"Well, ye-yeah." For once in my life, I actually wanted to stare at myself in a mirror. My face actually had color! Each cheek was lightly blushed, my eyes were lined with a coal colored liner, mascara was brushed onto my lashes making them longer than I had ever seen them, my lids were colored a purple and smokey black color, and a medium red lipstick covered my lips.

"By your intense staring into the mirror, I'm suspecting that you like it? Do you want this look for your party?"

Realizing that I was actually staring at myself in the mirror with bug eyes, I responded. "Yeah! It's just...just...gorgeous!"

"You know, if I was a young, hot vampire boy I wouldn't be able to keep my eyes off of you." She laughed as she began putting away her makeup into her bag.

"Hah! Yeah, well, if you find any out there please send them my way."

"Well, well. Miss Nessie is already into boys?" I giggled at her question. Of course I was interested into boys. I mean, the ones I saw on TV and movies anyway. Even though I'm only about seven, I still had the mentality and maturity of a sixteen year old (maybe even older). So of course I was, well, _attracted_ to the opposite sex. Though, I haven't really been able to show that when I'm cooped up in my house and when I'm not able to actually go out and interact with a boy.

"Of course I am. Though it kind of sucks when I can't leave here and find a boy to actually talk to and get to know." Rosalie stopped putting the makeup in the bag, a huge smile appeared on her face.

"Well why don't we go on a little adventure?"

"An adventure?" I asked with an odd look on my face. Aunt Rosalie wasn't really one for things like adventures.

"Yeah! I have to go into town to get a few things for your party. Why don't you go with me and we'll test out your makeup? See if it works the Rosalie Hale charm."

I couldn't help but let my mind wander and imagine myself talking to an actual boy. A human. Something (besides Charlie and the humans on TV) I've never seen in my life. What would I say? Oh gosh, what if he knew I wasn't human? "Ehh, I don't know."

"Oh come on. It will be fun!"

"I highly doubt Dad's going to let you take me. I mean, I've never been into town before."

"I can get you past your dad, don't worry. Now, go get into your cutest outfit and I'll meet you downstairs."

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I felt like I was a kid entering Disneyland for the first time. No, really, I did. Once I actually saw houses other than mine outside of my car window, I actually squealed.

"Ouch! Nessie, that was my ears." Rosalie was covering her ear with one hand, the other on the car wheel. We must have been going 90 miles per hour.

"Sorry. It's just this is all so...new!"

"Well take it all in, because I know Edward is going to freak out once we get home."

"Wait, he doesn't know I'm with you?"

"Not exactly. I got Emmett to distract him for a little bit while we're out." Great. I wasn't really looking forward to scary, screaming Dad tonight. "We're here!" I looked out my window to see an average sized red building. A sign in front of it said, Joe's Supermarket. Grocery shopping?

"Isn't everyone at the party, besides Grandpa Charlie, going to be non-human?"

"Yes, but you want a cake right?" A cake? More like the last dessert.

Once inside, there were humans walking around left and right. It wasn't until someone bumped into me that I realized my senses were going into overload. Correction, my smell was going into overload. I didn't understand it at first, but I couldn't keep my nose from smelling the air. The aroma was just so, so delightful. Like flowers or when Grandma Esme bakes snicker doodles. I followed the aroma, not knowing where it would take make.

"Umph!" I figured out where the aroma took me. Right into someone's back.

"Oh! I'm really sorry." The person turned around, leaning down to my level on the ground. It was a boy and I'm guessing he was a little younger than me. And I mean my almost sixteen-year-old self, not my almost seven-year-old self.

"No, no it's my fault. I wasn't watching where I was going." The boy slightly laughed and held out his hand. I grabbed on and instantly felt the differences in our body temperatures. He was a lot warmer than me and I freaked thinking he thought I was too cold or something. Once I was to my feet, I noticed our differences in height too. He was a lot taller and slighty muscular which made him look more like a guy around 18 or 19 than a little younger than I. Though his baby face gave away his age. He was actually really cute and what I liked most was his chin-length hair which contrasted great with his darker skin.

It wasn't until a woman cleared her throat, wanting to get to the milk which we were standing in front of, that I realized I was staring at the boy. "Well, I should go. I bet my aunt has already gotten the cake ordered."

"A cake?" The boy asked.

"Yeah, it's my birthday in a few weeks."

"Well happy birthday! How old are you going to be?"

I blushed. Was I really blushing around a boy? Awesome! "Sixteen."

"A sweet sixteen? That's very cool."

"Yeah. You know, I'm having a party. And it's mostly going to be my family and their friends. Would you want to come?" Where was all of this confidence and flirting technique coming from? I guess watching _Gossip Girl_ paid off.

"Umm, well I don't know..."

"Well here," I grabbed the boys arm (which was still super warm) and wrote down my number with the pen Aunt Rosalie gave me for these exact reasons, "Call me if you can come and I'll give you directions to my house."

The boy laughed and stared at the number. "Okay I will."

"Good. Well I better go. What's your name by the way?"

"Seth Clearwater. You?"

"Nessie. Nessie Cullen." Seth's happy face soon looked shocked. "What's wrong?"

"I...I got to go." And before I could even speak, he ran down the aisle and out of my sight. Hmm, these human boys are awfully strange.

*****


	5. Chapter 4: The Silent Meadow

**A/N**: Woo! 11 Reviews!! Haha, keep them coming guys :D

**4. The Silent Meadow**

"I can't believe you took her into town! God Rosalie, people could have been there and saw her. What were you thinking?" Okay, so Dad wasn't as scary as I thought he was going to be. He was actually worse. As I sat in my room listening to the fight breaking out between my father and my aunt, I heard a slight knock at my window. Who would be knocking on the window this late and who would have the guts to get near a house with two very angry vampires inside?

Once at the window, I noticed it was Alice with not the happiest look on her face. "Alice? Why didn't you just come through the door?" I asked as I opened the window, letting in the cool breeze from outside.

"Like I was going to walk through the middle of that?" She pointed towards the direction of the excruciating volume of fighting in the next room. "Anyways, you need to come with me right now." Before I could protest, I was being flung out my bedroom and into the cold night.

"Where are we going?" My voice was barely audible over the wind Alice was making as she was running us through the forest. Once I couldn't even hear the screaming match from the cottage anymore, I began to panic. Where the heck was she taking me? Trees began looking like blurs as Alice picked up speed. "Alice, what's going on? Where are you taking me?"

"You'll see!" The frigid air was stinging my eyes and I instantly closed them, the only noise was the wind in my ears. Though as soon as I closed them, we began to slow down. Once we stopped, I opened my eyes and noticed we were in a clearing.

"What are we doing here?" I asked, still trying to take in where we were. Alice had moved to the center of the clearing and sat down. "Wait, we're not meditating are we?" Alice giggled and motioned her hand for me to come sit next to her.

"You know how far away your cottage is from here?"

"No, not exactly." I sat down, my jeans instantly absorbing the dew which was lathered onto the grass.

"315 miles," Alice pulled at the grass, plucking it from the earth below it, "The exact spot where your father can't hear your thoughts."

"Really?" Alice nodded her head.

"Try it out. Think of something your father would never let you get away with thinking about." Oh, this was going to be good. Crossing my fingers and hoping Dad wouldn't hear me, I shouted the words in my head. _I don't want to live forever! I don't want to be immortal! I want to be...human. _When Alice didn't flinch from a vision and when I didn't hear my father's angry footsteps getting closer, I knew he didn't hear me. Not one word. "Cool, huh?" I just nodded. Saying those words in my head and knowing that my dad couldn't hear them made me feel, well, relieved. Like a big weight was pulled off of my shoulders. It felt great.

"Why did you take me out here, Alice?" Alice shifted in her sitting position so she could face me.

"I needed to ask you something that I didn't want your father hearing," I froze, thinking she was going to ask me about what I had just yelled in my thoughts, "Who did you see at the supermarket today?"

"Oh, his name was Seth Clearwater. He was really cute and-"

"Did you tell him your name?"

"Well, yeah. Why?"

Alice brought her hand to her head and closed her eyes. "No, no it's okay. Just as long as you didn't tell him where you lived."

"I gave him my number."

Alice sighed and grabbed my hand. "Nessie, please don't do that anymore. And if he calls you, don't tell him."

"Why?"

"Just don't, okay? I know it's hard not being able to go out into town and interact with other kids your age, but this will be over soon and then you can pretty much do what you want." I dropped her hand, feeling my heart drop to my stomach. _Soon_. It was getting here way too quick. "Nessie, are you okay?"

Tears began to sting at my eyes. I couldn't help it. "No."

"What's wrong, sweetie?" I looked up at Alice, I could feel my cheeks flush from the emotions I was feeling.

"It's about my birthday."

"About your party?"

"No, about my actually birth _day_."

"Well, what about it?"

"I don't want it to come," Alice sat silent, "I don't want to be fully matured and stop aging. I don't want to live for eternity. I don't want any of it! I mean it's not fair, Alice, why can't I be normal? Do normal things? Why can't I go out and try and find a boy who I could actually like? Or go out and hang out with friends? Why not?" After I was done, I could feel the hot tears flowing down my face.

"I'm...I'm so sorry Nessie," Alice said in a low whisper, "I didn't know you felt like that. I thought you were happy about being fully grown." I shook my head and wiped away the tears that were stuck to my cheek. Soon, two cool arms wrapped around me. "Nessie, I'm going to tell you something. But you promise not to tell anyone. Don't even think it after we leave here," Alice whispered into my ear. I let go of her embrace and silently nodded. "Do you remember how I couldn't tell you about your future because I couldn't see yours?

"Yeah, because I'm half vampire and half human."

"Right. Well today I got a vision," she looked around the clearing as if to make sure no one was around, "You were in it."

"What? How?"

"I don't know. But Nessie that could really only mean one thing. You were human." I don't know why but all of the sudden I began to laugh. "Why are you laughing?"

"Oh Alice, you're hilarious! Where's Emmett? He put you up to this, right?"

Stunned, Alice began to speak. "No, Nessie. This isn't a joke. I'm dead serious! In my vision you were fully human."

"Okay, okay. So what was I doing in this vision?"

"You were...with someone."

"Who?"

"I can't tell you," Alice got up and held out her hand, "Come on, we better get back. Your dad's probably already started a search party." I grabbed on but refused to hold on for the ride home.

"Alice, who was I with?" Alice didn't budge. Okay, fine. Two can play at this game. What would trigger Alice's visions? If I thought about going somewhere where this "someone" was. So I started thinking of places: Joe's Supermarket, Fork's High School, that really cute bakery we passed on the way to the grocery store, that La Push place...

"Oh my God! Come on Nessie we have to get you home."

"Wait, Alice, what did you see?"

"We have to get you home!" Alice grabbed onto me and threw me to her back. But I wasn't leaving without a fight. I instantly jumped off of her back and ran. I really don't know where I was running to, but I ran. Didn't get very far though. Alice appeared out of nowhere and stood in front of me.

"Tell me what you just saw and then we can go home," I commanded.

Alice had been defeated. I could tell by the look in her eyes. I just loved this getting everything I wanted thing. "You were...dying."

*****


	6. Chapter 5: Driving Lessons

**5. Driving Lessons**

Two weeks had passed and not one word had been muttered about my little rendezvous in town. It was like once I got home, everyone's memory had just been erased. Just like that. Alice never spoke to me again about what she had saw in her vision and I highly doubt she told anyone. If that was the case, I would be locked up in my room like it was Guantanamo Bay. The weird thing, though, was that I wasn't actually scared about what Alice said. She's been wrong in the past and, really, how could I be dying? I could only die one way and that is I have to be chopped up into little pieces and be sat on fire. Which is totally creepy and horror-movie like. Cool, huh?

Yeah, yeah. Alice said I was "human", but how in the world could I be human? There isn't an operation I could do or a magical pill I could take to just totally change into a normal, human teenager. So I highly doubted this vision of hers was true. Though, I couldn't help but be a little curious as to why me thinking about going to La Push set off her visions.

"Knock, knock," my mother's voice had filled my dead silent room, "can I come in?"

"Yeah." I continued to lay on my bed while I had a staring contest with the ceiling.

"What's wrong, Nes?" My mother spoke as she sat on my bed, so lightly and graceful that it didn't even move.

My eyes closed, letting the ceiling win the contest. "Nothing. Just tired."

"Before you fall I asleep, I want to show you something." One eye flung open. I wonder what this little something could be. Hopefully not another trip to that stupid meadow. "Come on." My mom held out her hand and I weakly grabbed on. We made our way out of the cottage and towards the main house. I noticed that the rest of the family, excluding Aunt Alice and Uncle Emmett, were waiting in the backyard. Was it already time for another hunting trip?

"Are you guys going hunting tonight?" I asked as I continued to follow my mother into the house.

"Yes, we thought we would make one last trip before the party next week." I didn't respond. One week till this stupid party. _One more week, Nessie. Lets make it last._ Before I knew it, I was being led upstairs towards Alice's room. What was going on?

"Now close your eyes." Oh boy, it was a surprise! Please be a puppy. Please oh please! I heard the creak of a door opening and soon I felt my bare feet on the cool hardwood floor. "Open!"

Now I knew where Alice was. She was right in front of me, displaying a breathtaking dress. It was a floor-length gown, in a deep red. Rows and rows of French lace covered the dress from top to bottom. It was strapless with a gorgeous long bow tying the whole thing together. All in all...it was the most dazzling dress I had ever seen.

"Surprise, Nessie! Do you like it?" Alice did a little spin, making the bottom of the dress ripple in the wind. I was speechless and couldn't even answer her. I just stared at the piece that was in front of me. That dress was for me? Wow. This birthday may be sucky, but at least I'll look hot.

"I...I...love it!"

"Happy Birthday, Nessie," my mother's arms wrapped around my shoulders, "Even though I know you're dreading it." I looked at my mother dumbfounded. She knew? I watched as she left the room and Alice was right behind her.

"Alice, wait!" She turned around with a bright smile on her face. "You told Mom?"

"It might of slipped out?"

"Alice!"

"Don't worry, Nessie. She's not going to tell your dad. Now, Emmett is staying with you tonight. So please don't take that for advantage."

"I have no idea what you're talking about!" I mocked. Alice just laughed and ruffled my hair before leaving for downstairs. Whenever Emmett stayed home with me, he would always watch something on TV not even realizing that I was there. I practically could do whatever I want. But I never did. Usually, I would end up watching TV with him and then fall asleep on the couch. Why would I do anything different? Then I thought about it. There was a major football game on tonight and, no doubt, Emmett would be watching it intensely. Everyone else would be gone at least till morning. And me? I was still curious as to why this La Push place was so special. Hmm. I wonder how my driving skills are?

**********************

"Oh, come on ref! What in the hell are you talking about? That was not a fumble!" Emmett pealed his eyes from the TV to look over at me with a face that was down right histerical. "Can you believe that? These refs are complete dumb asses. I mean, I could do a better job!" I've always hated sports. Never got them. Never played them. I just didn't understand them. Though when Emmett always tried to include me when we watched the games and talked to me like I understood, I couldn't help but laugh.

"Yeah. You definitely could." I shifted on the couch, waiting for the game to switch to commercials. If I was going to have this plan working, I needed to get to talking to him when his full attention wasn't on the game. Once I heard the voice of the Sham-Wow guy on screen, I put the plan in motion. "Uncle Emmett?"

"Yeah?"

"How old do you have to be to drive?"

"Why? Do you want to drive?"

"Well, yeah! I mean on _My Super Sweet 16 _they're always getting cars before they even turn sixteen. So, I think it's only fair if I get to drive too!"

"I don't know, Nessie. Why don't you discuss that with your father once he gets back?"

"Because he's an overprotective maniac and would say no before I even said can I?" I said in such a low whisper that a human ear couldn't hear.

"Hah! You got that right!" The music for the game began to play. "Okay, the game's back on." Emmett smacked his hands together and got situated on the couch. Phase one of the plan had been complete. Now, on to phase two.

"Uncle Emmett?"

"Ye-yeah, Nessie?"

"You drive a Jeep right?"

"Yeah. What? That was a foul!"

Then after a few seconds of silence, I went in for the kill. "Could I borrow it to go practice for a little bit?"

"Umm, sure. Keys are in the glove compartme-Yes! Fourth down, baby!" Phase two...complete.

**********************

Getting the car onto the actual road was a task in itself. I almost took out two trees on the way and I swear that scratch wasn't there once I got into the car. But once I had it on the street, I was ready to go. I pulled out the directions that I had gotten from the Internet and began my journey. What I was exactly looking for? No clue. But I knew it had to be something big. I mean, first there was the crumpled up note with this Jacob Black's address on it and then the whole Alice vision thing. Whatever it was, I was excited to find out.

The ride was surprisingly smooth for it being my first time driving. Though, I think it's natural for vampires (and half vampires) to have great driving ability. Have you seen how my aunt drives a Porsche? The trees had finally gotten scarce, showing the early evening sky above. I couldn't have been more than 20 miles away. Anxiousness and anticipation began to creep through my body. It had gotten so bad that I began to shake, instantly making the directions in my hand float down to the ground. Ugh. Being the inexperienced driver that I am, I reached down for the paper completely taking my eyes off the road. Once I reached it, I looked up and noticed I was going insanely fast towards a person in the middle of the street. Wait, what? A person?

"Ahhh!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. "How do I stop this stupid thing?" My feet searched for the brake and slammed down on it. The car halted just about a foot away from the person. My heart sounded like it was hitting my chest and my hands didn't leave the steering wheel. I sat there in shock as I stared at the person across from me who had the total opposite look on his face. After the shock had settled and my hands were no longer stuck to the wheel, my jelly-feeling legs made their way out of the car and towards the person I had almost hit. "Are...are you okay?"

Woah. This dude was super tall. And he was really...shirtless? Not saying that was such a bad thing. "I'm so sorry. I haven't really driven much and I bent down to pick up this piece of paper and I had no idea what I was doing to telling you the truth and-"

"Hey, don't worry about it." The voice of the tall guy filled my ears. And you know what was weird, it quickly put me at ease. The same way Jasper helped people calm down when they weren't feeling too hot.

"Oh, umm, okay," I couldn't help but notice how muscular this guy really was. Wow, "Do you need a ride somewhere? We're kind of in the middle of nowhere." I could tell that he was thinking deeply as if the answer to this question would win him either a million dollars or nothing.

"No. I can walk home from here," he turned around and headed in the opposite direction.

"Wa-wait! I can take you home. It's no problem! Really!" He turned back around, a smile swept across his face. "Besides, it's the least I could do for almost killing you."

He nodded. "Sure, sure."

******


	7. Chapter 6: Joyriding

**6. Joyriding**

You know, I never really knew how good of a heater Emmett's Jeep had. In fact, as I was taking this stranger home, I actually was getting too hot. I reached down to turn the knob for the heat, when I realized that it wasn't even turned on. What?

"Do you mind if I roll down the windows? It's super hot in here." I looked over at the guy who had been looking out the passenger side window. His hands were in tight fists as if he was trying not to move a muscle. As soon as my voice was heard, though, he quickly turned his head.

"No, not at all." I smiled to his calming voice.

"So, where do you live?" I finally asked as I approached a four-way stop.

"Oh, uhh, you can just drop me off here."

I looked around and noticed just more trees, no sign of actual human life anywhere. "You live in a tree house, I'm guessing?"

The stranger just laughed and started to open the car door. "No, but you're about to drive into a dead-end. So I'll just walk from here. Thanks for the ride." For some reason, the thought of this guy leaving and walking alone into the woods didn't register right into my mind. As soon as he stepped onto the pavement below the car and the door slammed shut, I raced out of the Jeep and towards him. I really didn't know what I was expecting this to do.

"Wait!" The guy stopped and turned around. This time looking a little annoyed while his fists were still balled up. "I can take you home. Really, it's no big deal."

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"And why not?" The guy paused, taking a deep breath, and walked closer towards me. Being as tall and big as he was, I should have ran back into my car and sped off. My legs had other ideas, though, and stuck to where they were. He then placed both of his warm hands on my shoulders and instead of me being the one to look scared, he did.

"You just can't, okay?" Because our faces were close now, I noticed his dark brown eyes. They looked, well, familiar.

"Your eyes...I've seen them before..."

"Jake! What are you doing?" I looked towards the direction where the voice was coming from. It was an oddly familiar looking guy. Wait a minute. It was Seth from the grocery store! When he realized I was looking at him, his eyes grew wide. "Why is she here?"

This Jake guy took his gaze away from me and towards Seth. "She was just about to go home." The tone in his voice sounded somewhat disappointed. Sad even. He then turned back towards me. "Thanks again for the ride. Have a nice birthday."

Huh? I never told him about my birthday. Well unless Seth told him about that. But why would he? "How..." Before I knew it, both of the guys were gone deep into the woods.

*****************************

I really wasn't looking forward to going home. My parents wouldn't be back yet. Though Emmett would be pretty angered about my little joyride I took with his "baby". So instead of turning down the road to my house, I decided to take a real joyride towards town. As the trees began to turn into houses, my mind went back to what had happened earlier. I was just so confused. How was everything that happened to me or whoever I meet connected somehow? And why wouldn't anyone tell me what the hell was going on? It was just so stupid. Oh well, I guess I will be learning about everything soon enough. I mean, I'm living forever anyways. Why not tell me?

Once I got into town, pretty much every place was closing or closed for the evening. Well all except one.

"Hello and welcome to the Hungry Bear Cafe. I'm," the monotonous waiter with greasy hair and a huge pimple (which I really wanted to pop for him) pointed towards his name tag, "Brian and I'll be your waiter. What would you like to drink?"

"Just water, please."

"Would you like a lemon?"

"Nope, just plain old water."

"Would you like ice?"

"Uhh, sure."

"Would you like a nice bendy straw?"

"No, not really. Just the water please."

"Oh, so you don't want ice then."

"Yes, I would like the ice. I just don't want a lemon or bendy straw."

"So just ice?"

"No! I want a water with ice!" I plopped my head down onto the table, hoping Brian would just go away.

"Make that two. Though you can give me the lemon." I slowly lifted my head from the table. That Jake guy from earlier was sitting across from me.

"Are you serious?"

"What? I was hungry." I watched as he grabbed a roll from the basket in the middle of the table and began to devour it, like some animal.

"It seems to me like you're following me or something."

"Nah, you just seem to be everywhere I go," a smile appeared across his face and oddly my heart began to beat a little bit faster.

"Okay. Well I guess if you're sitting with me, I need to know who you are since I was told never to talk to strangers." The smile on his face disappeared.

"I can't tell you that."

"Why?"

"Because--"

"Here are your waters," Brian interrupted, "Now, what would you like to eat?"

"I don't want anything, thank you, " I said.

"Uhh, okay. And for you, sir?"

I looked over at Jake, his face intensely scanning the menu. "I'll take your Manager's Special Breakfast with a side of hash browns, make the eggs over easy, and an extra side of bacon, please."

"Wow." I gave him a weird look. Like a mixture between disgusted and amazed. Because, really, I was.

"What? I told you I was hungry."

"No kidding. So, tell me why you can't tell me who you are."

Jake rolled his eyes and sat back in the booth, resting his arms behind his head. "Because I'm not even supposed to be talking to you."

"Why so?" Then it dawned on me. Jake. Jacob. Alice telling me not to talk to Seth and Seth was with Jake. "You're Jacob Black, aren't you?"

Jacob sat still, never taking his eyes from me.

"One Manager's Special Breakfast with a side of hash browns and bacon." A huge platter of food plopped in front of Jacob and yet he still didn't move.

"Thanks Brian," I said. "So is that a yes or no? Is your name Jacob Black or not?"

"Yes."

"Then how do you know my family?" Before I knew it, he grabbed onto my arm and speedily lead me out of the restaurant. We walked across the parking lot towards the Jeep and he opened the door for me and then got in on the passenger side. "Okay what was that?"

"You can't tell anyone that you saw me here, okay?"

"Why? Are you like a super evil villain or something?"

"Ha ha. Look, you can't even think about seeing me or anything."

"I really don't understand why everyone is trying to keep me away from certain things. I mean it's not like I'm going to die...I mean, it's not, uhh, likely that I will." I awkwardly looked away from Jacob and towards the steering wheel. It became dead silent between the two of us.

"I'm an old friend," Jacob said.

"What?"

"You asked me how I knew your family. I'm an old friend."

"So, uhh, if you know my family. Do you, do you know what they are?" I slowly turned my head towards Jacob's direction, a smile appeared across his face. "You do don't you?"

Jacob nodded and then, after a pause, immediately looked unsure. But then soon his hand reached to my face. I shuddered from the contrast of his warm skin and my cooler skin. It felt, how should I put this, different? It felt good? It just felt, I guess, nice. Is this how all girls react to boys touching their cheeks? Jacob laughed after my last thought. Woah. Could he read my mind?

"What are you laughing at?"

"At what you were thinking."

"You knew what I was thinking?"

Jacob looked confused. "Yeah, you showed it to me."

"What?"

His eyes widened at my question. "Look, forget that. I got to go."

Before I could even speak, Jacob was gone. And I was left sitting in my uncle's Jeep, really confused.

*****


	8. Chapter 7: Discoveries

**7. Discoveries**

Emmett's Jeep began to lose the overbearing heat it contained once Jacob was out of the car. Actually, it had been freezing cold for the past 20 minutes while I just sat there. Just...thinking. The past few week's events had been confusing. No, not just confusing, but also infuriating, stupid, annoying, and...exciting? Ignore the last word. Though, they kind of were. All in all, I just really wanted to know what the heck was going on with this Jacob character and him "reading my mind", how La Push is so significant, and why my family wants me stay away from just about...everything. Though getting those answers would be a lot harder than you would think.

I began to drive back towards my home. The sky was pitch black and, for once, was filled with stars instead of clouds. It reminded me of when my parents took me hunting for the first time. It was just a few weeks after they told me the family's "secret" and was their final attempt at trying to make me like blood. The sky was as clear as day and the stars lit the earth around us as we walked through the woods and towards our destination. My mother held on to my hand and my father led the way. It felt like some odd family outing. But instead of going fishing for our food, we chose deer blood.

"Now remember, Nessie, you have to be quick or you wont be able to catch the deer," my father whispered quietly as he crouched down behind a stump. In front of us was small deer eating some grass. Just standing there. Without a care in the world. There was no way it was expecting a speedy vampire to come out of nowhere and suck it's life from it's body. And that's when it really hit me. I was going to sit there and watch my father kill this poor, innocent animal. And for what? Blood? Was it really worth it to see a life taken away?

I watched as my father's eyes turned from it's darkening topaz color to completely black. He was about to make the kill. And I was going to sit there and watch. Before I knew it, Dad leaped forward towards the non-expecting deer and grabbed it perfectly on his first try. He latched his teeth on the deer's neck and immediately the small deer yet out a yelp. I couldn't do this. I couldn't watch this happen to something that had so much more life to live. So I started running. Running as fast as I could. I didn't know where I was going, but I knew I had to get away from what was going on behind me. As I ran, I realized that in some way, the deer was exactly like me. Getting the life sucked out of it before it could really experience anything else. I had no way of stopping it. I had no other choice. And, honestly, I couldn't really fight it. So, I just had to accept it. Like the deer. It had accepted death, though wanted life.

That's why I never go hunting with my family. Because if I did, it would be like watching myself die. Over and over again.

***********************

When I finally did get home, Emmett was waiting in the driveway with his arms intimidatingly crossed against his chest. I could instantly feel my heart jolt into my own chest as his Jeep got closer and closer to him. I didn't even have time to stop the car before Emmett opened the door and grabbed me by the arm.

"Umm, ow!" I yelled out loud as I was being dragged into the house. Once my feet hit the carpet, his hand freed my arm, leaving a faint red mark.

"What were you doing with my car?" Emmett's voice boomed through the house. I could have even sworn that the floor shook as well.

As I rubbed my throbbing arm, I looked back up at Uncle Emmett and his eyes had turned into that scary black color. I immediately began to freak out. I mean, Emmett is a big guy. Plus he's a vampire. Plus he's probably thirsty. Plus, I just stole his Jeep. "I, umm, I..."

"I swear Nessie, if there is a scratch or even a dent on that car--"

"I didn't do anything to your car, Emmett. I just took it out for, uhh, practice. Besides, you said I could take it anyways...remember?" I smiled wide, hoping the same trick that worked for my dad would work for him.

"What? I never said...," soon Emmett's furious face smoothed into his regular old self, "Oh, I did didn't I?" Nodding to his question, my heart went back to it's normal state when Emmett's eyes slowly turned back to it's familiar color. "Well, shit. Just don't, don't do it again, okay?"

"Oh, I wont. I promise," I said in my best innocent voice. The hell I wasn't going to take it again. Though, next time I would need a better plan. Quickly after my fake apology, I headed towards the door which lead to outside where my cottage was. I was stopped, though, by a now curious looking Emmett.

"Umm, Nessie. Where exactly did you take my Jeep?"

What would be a good lie for this question? To get a bite to eat? No, Grandma Esme fixed me something before she left. I wanted to check out the nightlife? No, it's Forks. There is no such thing as nightlife.

"I just practiced some driving around the town. I mean, I'm going to be getting my license soon, right?"

"Yeah, yeah you are. Geez, Nessie. It seems like yesterday you were just a little kid yelling out 'Strike!' for every pitch in our baseball games. And now you're--"

"Still the girl who yells 'Strike!' for every pitch at your baseball games. Yeah, I still don't know the difference."

Emmett laughed and ruffled my already messed up hair. "I can't wait till you can actually play with us."

"Ha, do you really think I'm going to be fast enough to keep up?" Even though I would be fully matured, it didn't mean I was getting super speed or anything.

"Hey, I don't know. Carlisle said it's possible for you to gain some vampire traits when you reach seven, or, I guess, sixteen."

"Really?" Great, another thing to add to my non-normalcy category. "Uhh, well that's cool," I said, trying to make it sound like I was excited, "I'm actually going to go to bed, though. Goodnight."

"Night! Oh and don't worry about the car thing. Just ask me next time you want to take the Jeep, okay?" I nodded and headed out into the cold towards my cottage. As I let out a big yawn, I realized just how tired I actually was. And a nice big bed sounded oh so great at that exact moment.

Before I could open the door to the cottage, an obviously loud rustling came from the woods behind me. Fear began to trickle into my body. Could it be that wolf? Or what if it was a vampire making it's way through town? Or what if was that poor deer coming to claim my life as well? Instead of going and finding out, I quickly opened the door to my cottage and slammed it shut behind me, locking every lock that I could. I zoomed towards my room and bounced onto my bed, forcing myself underneath the sheets. What was out there?

"Oh come on, Nessie. It's the woods. It's probably just some bear," I spoke out to myself. My little pep talk didn't work because soon I heard a faint knock at my window and I pulled the covers tighter over myself, hoping this whatever would just go away.

It didn't. The knocks continued. And soon, the knocks turned into the Mario Brothers theme song. Ugh, really? I took a deep breath and slowly peeled the sheets from over me and made my way to the window.

"Alright, alright. I really think three minutes of constant Super Mario Brothers theme song is--," I opened the window to find no one outside of it, "enough." Okay, so this is the part in the scary movies where the unsuspecting victim (me) takes the killer's bait and when the unsuspecting victim (still me) turns back from the window/door/shower curtain, the killer arrives to kill the victim in a gory fashion. And as the unsuspecting victim, I stupidly turned around to meet my killer.

"Jacob?" In front of me stood my "killer". Tall, dark, and, dare I say it, handsome. The total opposite of your typical mass murderer.

"Expecting another guy?" He asked sarcastically. I quickly ignored his question.

"Why are you in my room?" He laughed and pointed towards the door. "But I locked it!"

"Apparently not too well because I walked right on in." I didn't exactly respond because half of me felt embarrassed for thinking someone was going to murder me and the other half felt kind of nervous having a boy in my room...for the first time. Alone. Is this what all teenagers deal with? It was quiet between the two of us as I watched Jacob scan my room. His eyes stopped when they reached my dresser, which had all of my picture frames on it. "Why do you only have one picture?" He looked over at me, holding on to the one frame that did have a picture in it. The rest were blank. I walked towards him and took the frame from his hands. The picture inside was of me, Mom, and Dad.

"I, umm, only have one. The rest of the frames are for the future," my cheeks felt hot from the embarrassment. I mean who keeps picture frames for pictures of what will happen in the future?

"So what kind of future pictures do you plan on putting in the frames?"

"I don't really know. Hopefully," I grabbed my small purple picture frame, "this one will be for my first pet. And I was thinking the green one can be for a trip that me and my family go on."

Jacob didn't respond, just faintly smiled. He looked at all of the abandoned frames and picked up the one I was hoping he wouldn't ask about, "How about this one?" The red sparkly heart frame reflected in the light as he held it out towards me.

If my cheeks could melt, they would have right then and there from their intense heat. "Uhh, heh, that one's for, uhh, a future boyfriend...maybe?"

"Really? Hmm..." Jacob sat down the frame and walk towards my bed, plopping down onto it. Yeah, my cheeks were melting, and making a big puddle on the floor. Hmm? What did hmm mean? Did he think I was not capable of having a boyfriend?

"Yes, really. Even though I'm doomed to a hellish eternal life, I can still have a boyfriend!" Oh crap, he did know about me, right? I mean, he did know about the whole vampire situation. Jacob didn't seem to be caught off guard by anything. So, maybe he did know.

Though, Jacob's face turned into a frown after a while. He scooted over on my bed and looked up at me. Was this like an invitation to come sit next to him? Without even thinking anything else, my legs led me to my bed and I slowly bent them to kind of sit on it. I didn't want to make things awkward and sit really close to him. "You think you're doomed to a hellish eternal life?" He spoke in a new, sincere voice.

"Yeah. And?"

"Well, why do you think that?"

And as if something in my brain snapped I spilled everything out, to this perfect stranger. "Because I am! I mean I will be living forever, stuck exactly like this. I'll never get a chance at doing anything normal, because people will get suspicious. I mean, look at my family. They have to move, just so people wont start asking why the Cullen kids still look so young. I don't want that life. And then, and then what if I do find a guy I care about? He'll most likely be human and, shockingly, age. And guess what? I'll still be sixteen. It's like I'm stuck on this everlasting ride, it's fun at first but after a while you're going to get sick of it. It just makes me so mad that I didn't get a choice about this. It's like I'm forced to live this way. With no say whatsoever." Trying to catch my breath, I turned away from Jacob. I just spilled my guts to a person I've only know for a few hours. Something I couldn't even do with my parents, who I've known my entire life.

Without warning, two warm arms wrapped around me. Making me jump slightly. I turned around and noticed just how close Jacob was to me. And though it felt really nice to be hugged by a guy like that (in the comforting way), he was still like a stranger to me. So I forcefully pulled myself away from his arms.

"Sorry," he instantly replied.

"It's okay," was all I could say back.

"Look, I got to go. It wont be long before your big bad babysitter comes to see why he hears someone else's voice in your room," he winked and got up from my bed. For some odd reason, I didn't want Jacob to go. At least not yet. I felt as if I had someone to talk to, who was normal. Who was, well, human.

"Jacob, wait!" I leaped up from my bed to block my front door. Jacob smiled a cocky grin as if he knew I didn't want him to leave, but for totally other reasons. "I, umm, just want to say thanks."

"For?"

"Umm, for listening to me, I guess? And for, umm, hugging me? I mean, not for hugging me but for being supportive. I've never really had that before."

"So you're thanking me for hugging you?" He said while a big smiled formed on his face.

"No. Did you not hear me? I said for being support--"

"Nessie, relax. I'm kidding," he took his hand and placed it on my cheek once again. _Hmm, I wonder if he really could read my mind?_ Jacob nodded.

"Ah-hah! So you can read my mind! How?"

"I'm not really supposed to say," Jacob said, while taking his warm hand from my face.

"Oh come on. Please?" I grabbed on to Jacob's hand without even thinking and it caused _him _to jump this time.

"Umm, heh," Jacob began to laugh nervously. Wait, did me touching his hand make him nervous? "Umm, you can't tell anyone I'm telling you this, okay?" I nodded, anxiously awaiting his explanation. "You have an ability."

"An ability? Like Dad reading minds?"

"Exactly! You inherited it from him."

"So, what exactly is this ability?"

Jacob looked cautiously at my hand which was still in his, the comparison in the sizes were kind of laughable, and placed it on his forehead. "Think about something." My mind went back to just a few minutes ago when Jacob had his arms around me. How it made me feel different, but in a good way. Jacob grinned the instant my thought was complete. "If you touch anyone's face, your thoughts instantly become theirs."

Wow. So, I really had an ability. A power. I could tell people how I felt, without even speaking a word. Why would my parents want to keep this from me?

"So, how can you touch my face and know what I'm thinking?"

"Umm, I don't know. Maybe that happens with everyone."

Jacob removed my hand from his face and held it gently in his, staring at it for a few seconds. "Is my hand that fascinating?" Jacob looked up and immediately dropped it.

"Funny. But I really have to go now," he walked past me and went towards the door, "Oh and I'll see you later." He slyly grinned and headed out of the cottage. Into the dark and cloudless night.

*****


	9. Chapter 8: Dream World

**8. Dream World  
**

The following days seemed to rush by. Once again, it seemed as if everyone's memory was completely erased and nothing was mentioned about me stealing Emmett's Jeep. I was glad, though, that no one had figured out about the part where Jacob ended up alone with me in my room. I never actually figured out as to why he came over or as to why in the beginning he was so cautious about telling me who he actually was. I mean, he knew my family and he obviously knew about me (even more than I knew about myself), so why was he such a big secret? And why did I not know about him before? Maybe he had a falling out with my parents. Or maybe something happened in my first year of life. Something that I can't remember.

There was never an actual explanation for me losing my first year memories. I just remember a few vague memories and then...nothing. It's like one day I woke up and I was just two years old, like I fast forward through my life. I remember asking Grandpa Carlisle about it, but all he could come up with was that I grew so quickly that my brain couldn't handle it and all of my memories just vanished. Though, if that was the case, how could I remember everything from when I was two until now perfectly? It just never made sense to me, but I had to accept it and move on. I mean, what could be so important about my first 12 months, right?

* * *

The day before my _final_ birthday quickly approached and I tried everything I could to make sure the day that followed came as slowly as possible. And guess what? I miserably failed. Before I knew it, the dark sky had filled Forks and magnificent lighting had accompanied it. Great, even the sky could tell that my birthday was going to be hell. I lay on my bed, still in the clothes I had on for that day. My muddy shoes from attempting to garden with Grandma Esme were still intact, leaving flakes of dirt on the ground below them. I didn't really want to move. I just wanted to lay there and think. Think about what my life was going to be like after my birthday. Would I be any different? Would I feel different? Would I have any vampire abilities? Abilities. Hmm. Well, I had one already. At least I thought I did.

Once Jacob had left that evening, I made my way back to the main house. If I really did have this "ability", I was going to find out. Inside, Emmett was doing what he did best, watching TV. Some old Charlie Chaplin film was on and he couldn't peel his eyes away from it. That is until I walked into the living room. Before my feet could step on the carpet, Emmett's head snapped towards my direction. His eyes were jet black, while his nose scrunched.

"Nessie? I thought you were sleeping?"

"I was, but I, uhh, couldn't really fall asleep. So, I decided to come back up here to watch TV with you," I said in the most phony voice. Lying really wasn't my forte. Emmett's face didn't change as I walked closer towards him and on the opposite end of the long couch. When I sat down, his eyes never looked away from me. "Umm, is there something wrong?"

His harsh face toned down slightly and he sort of smiled. "I hate to tell you this, Nessie. But, you kind of reek."

I smelt? I thought he was going to say something about hearing Jacob in my room. "I stink?" I asked while raising my arms and smelling underneath them. I didn't smell anything unusual.

Emmett plugged his nose in a dramatic fashion. "Yeah, really bad," he laughed while he picked up the TV remote, "Why don't you go take a quick shower before everyone gets here? I don't want your father thinking I let you roll around in trash while I watch you."

"But I don't smell, Emmett! I think you need to get your nose checked." Emmett rolled his eyes and continued scanning the show menu on the television screen. After a while, he finally picked ESPN. I waited a few minutes until I finally got up to go back to the cottage. "Well, I guess I'll try and get some sleep," I said with a hint of exhaustion in my voice. I made my way to the side of Emmett and quickly placed my hand on his cheek, "Goodnight." My mind raced through the past few minutes, every detail of since I stepped inside the house. Once I was done, I lifted my hand from his face and waited for a response.

Emmett just sat there, though. He looked up at me with a confused face and then replied, "Night!"

* * *

I focused my attention back to the dangerous sky outside my window. The lightening flashes began to get more violent and more frequent. The lamp on my nightstand flickered, causing my head to hurt, and I instantly shut my eyes.

A dream world began to fill my subconscious. It was day time, the sun shining perfectly through the trees all around me. In the distance, I could see a small home with a smoking chimney attached. For some reason, I wanted to run as fast I could towards this place. Like, if I got there I would feel better. Feel at ease. Though, as I ran towards this house it grew. And grew, until I reached it and it turned into my family's house. This house, though, was slightly different. Instead of my parents, grandparents, and the rest of my family living in it, there were children. Three of them. All with dark black hair, russet colored skin, and familiar deep brown eyes. As, I made my way through the house all of the children followed me causing me to almost run. That is until I ran into something. Actually someone. When this someone turned around, I immediately recognized him. "Welcome home, Nessie," was all he said as his familiar warm arms wrapped around me. Then three more pairs wrapped around me as well. In unison the three of them all said, "Welcome home, Mommy!"

My eyes instantly shot open. The bright sun filled my room, stinging my eyes just slightly. "What the hell?" I asked out loud. Looking towards my window, the overbearing sun caused reality to sink in. Today was my seventh birthday. I quickly sat up in my bed and looked over at the clock on my nightstand. 12:00 kept blinking over and over, meaning the power must have went out the night before. Quietly, I got out of my bed and cracked my door open, hoping that my parents weren't around. When I didn't hear a sound, I tiptoed out in the living room while my shoes made a trail of dirt behind me. _Damn, Mom's going to be pissed about that._ Then, without warning, a loud mess of overexcited vampires jumped in front of me.

"Happy Birthday Nessie!" they all yelled in unison. All of them, except Rosalie, were wearing a goofy birthday hat and Emmett and Jasper were popping confetti poppers at each other. Even though everything looked so cheerful, I suddenly felt a wave a nausea hit me. Immediately, I sprinted for my bathroom.

"Geez, Nessie," Emmett teased as I walked out of the bathroom with Mom and Alice, "I didn't know someone could throw up that much."

"Ha ha, you're hilarious Emmett," I said in a low voice while I attempted to punch him in the arm. My body was so weak, though, that I missed his arm completely and punched the air.

"Nessie, uhh, maybe you should lie down for a little bit. I don't think you would want to pass out tonight at your party," Alice quickly spoke as she held onto me and led me to my room. The next few events went by quickly. I remember lying in bed, Alice whispering something to someone, Carlisle walking in and talking to me, and then...silence. When I finally gained full strength back, my eyes opened slowly. Alice was sitting at my computer desk, staring at the glaring laptop screen in front of her.

"Alice?" I spoke with a cracked voice. Alice turned around immediately towards my voice.

"Good morning, Nessie! Well, I guess good afternoon."

"What time is it?" I asked with a little bit of worry in my voice.

"It's almost 1 o'clock. But don't worry, you have plenty of time to get ready for the party," she got up from the chair and danced happily over towards my bed and gracefully sat on it. I noticed a small box was in her hand, "This is for you." She shoved the decorated cardboard gift in front of me.

"What is it?"

"Well open it and find out! Oh, but read the card attached to it first." I flipped the piece of loose paper attached open. Inside was a message in horrible handwriting:

_Happy Birthday._

My eyes darted up to Alice as she eagerly awaited for me to open the gift. I slowly lifted the box top, to find a mess of fabric inside. Grasping onto it, I pulled what seemed to be a chain made out of suede material out of the box. A ring of braided material was attached. It was small, like it could fit around a child's wrist and was colored in brown and other darker colors. I didn't understand it, but as I looked at this necklace with the bracelet attached, I felt strangely connected to it.

"Alice I love it. Thank you," I hugged her gently.

"Well thanks for the appreciation, but it's not from me."

"What?"

Her happy face, now, looked slightly worried. "I found it sitting outside of your window, on the sill. I don't know who exactly it's from, but it doesn't give me the easiest feeling. I was hoping what was inside that box was possibly from one of us, but I was wrong."

"Didn't you see it before I opened it? Like in a vision or something?"

"I can't see your future, remember?"

"Oh," I realized as I put my attention back on the necklace, "right."

"Maybe you shouldn't wear it," Alice spoke as she got up from my bed.

"Why not?"

"Trust me. It would be better if you put it back in the box and left it here in your room." The look on Alice's face almost gave me chills. She looked scared, like the time in the meadow when she saw me dying in a vision. I agreed and watched as she left my room and out of the cottage.

As soon as I knew she was gone, I quickly changed into a pair of sweat pants and a long sleeve t-shirt. I grabbed the necklace and clasped it onto my neck, shoving the small bracelet down my shirt. The necklace gave me a strange, new feeling. It sounds laughable for a piece of jewelry to do that, but this was different. Unexplainable. Then, as if it were a vision, my mind went back to the dream world.

I was little this time and running, fast. Faster than I could ever imagine. Then beside me, running at the same speed, was that same wolf I saw in the forest many weeks ago. We were racing. Then, I stopped. The wolf stopped too. In front of me stood a small deer. Without hesitation, my throat twitched eagerly, and I hunched down, ready to pounce. Graceful than I had ever been, I leaped towards the deer, latching my teeth directly onto it's throat. The warm liquid that entered my mouth, satisfied my thirst.

Then, the dream world evaporated away. I was back in my room. The thought of me killing a deer and drinking the blood caused my stomach to twitch and me to run to the bathroom.

*****


	10. Chapter 9: The Party

**A/N**: Sorry for the very long breaks between updates, guys. I've been super busy with school and all that junk. But, my promise to you all is that I will be getting a lot of new chapters out this month in honor of New Moon premiering. Expect two new chapters every week!! And once again, thank you so much for reading my story.

**9. The Party  
**

It was like a dream. No, scratch that. It was like one of those happy, sappy dreams that instantly turn into a nightmare. But, instead of me opening my eyes and going back to reality, I couldn't escape this.

"Nessie, darling! You look lovely!" A tall, thin woman came up to me with her arms outstretched. She immediately wrapped her cool, rock hard arms around me. "I can't believe how tall you've gotten. And, my, you're more gorgeous than any of us could have imagined."

I wanted to respond with a very generous thank you and possibly throw in some "But not as gorgeous as you!" or 'Thank you so much. You're looking lovely yourself," remarks, but I had no idea who this woman even was. So instead I replied, "Umm, thanks," and then quickly (and not so gracefully) walked away. This had been happening to me for the past hour. Person after person, or should I say vampire after vampire, would come up to me, comment on me, and then hug me in a life-sucking hug. I mean, I thought turning sixteen was going to be the worst part about the party.

I guess I thought wrong.

After walking away from another unfamiliar looking vampire (and tripping in my heels during the process), I made my way to the super long buffet table. All of my favorites, including pigs in a blanket and spinach and artichoke dip, were lined up and down it. Barely anything was touched. _Maybe if I just grab a few pigs in a blanket and sneak through the back door, no one will even notice._

"Nessie! Come on," an all too happy Alice said while grabbing my hand and leading me back into the crowd of overly excited vampires, "It's time to sing Happy Birthday!"

"Really? Is that necessary? I mean, can't they--"

"Oh Nessie, be excited," Alice stopped and turned towards me, lowering her face next to my ear, "I know you don't want this, but to please your father just look like you're having fun, okay?" I couldn't say no. I mean, Alice had that certain little way of getting whatever she wanted and this time she actually sounded like if I did what she wanted, it would also help me in the long run. So, I agreed.

"Here's my birthday girl," my father said loud enough for everyone to hear as I made my way to the center of the dance floor (I still can't believe we actually bought one for the party). "Now before the cake is brought out, I just want to say a few words," my father walked up to me, slinging his arm around my shoulders, squeezing them gently with his hand, "I've waited a long seven years for this day. For my daughter to finally become the woman I know she wants to be." He looked down at me throughout the rest of his speech with that goofy half smile he does, and I couldn't help but look away. Here was my father, happier than I've ever seen him and here I was, more depressed than a little girl who just lost her favorite toy. How could I look at him? "To Nessie," he finished, holding an empty wine glass in the air.

"To Nessie!" the whole room said in unison, mocking my father's motion.

"Now, bring out the cake!" Emmett yelled from the crowd, causing everyone to laugh. I watched as two sort of familiar looking vampires wheeled out a massive five-tiered cake, covered in purple and green. On the top, large sparkling candles were lit.

Then it seemed as if everything was in slow motion and realization had sunken in. This was it. My last few moments of semi-normalcy. And I was no near ready.

"Haaaaaaaapy Biiirthdayyy toooo youuuu...," everyone's voices seemed to run together and the room began to spin. I tried to focus my eyes back to the glittering candles. _Don't pass out Nessie. Just make it to the end of the song. _"Happy Birthday dear Nessie. Happy Birthday to you!" Standing on my tippy toes, I made my last wish, and blew out the candles.

* * *

The party moved on and I did as well. After getting a pep talk from Alice and Rosalie, I decided to actually _enjoy_ the party. I mean, why not?

"Come on Nessie," Alice said while grabbing my hand, "Lets show these old folks how to really dance." She led me towards the center of the dance floor where many of the vampires were just slow dancing to an old timey sounding song. That song instantly ended.

"This is for our guest of honor," a voice filled the speakers followed by a too familiar sound. I looked over at Alice who had a huge smirk on her face.

"I love this song!" I blurted out, sounding way too much like a little fan girl at her favorite boy band's concert.

"I know!" Alice shouted, "Now, let's dance!" That's when I realized, I sucked at dancing. I mean, yeah I loved to dance, but the actual doing it well part didn't exactly work. I looked around at the people around me. They weren't really watching and were doing their own thing. I then looked over to Alice and, what seemed to be, a very dance illiterate Jasper dancing to the beat. They wouldn't really care. _Hmm. _I began to move my hips to the beat, not exactly moving my legs with them. Looking around one more time, I lifted my feet and moved them to the beat. Moving my arms up just slightly from my sides, I was finally, erm, dancing! And you know what? It felt great. I let myself go into the song, not giving a care in the world. I could hear people around me, but I tuned them out as I danced to the beat of the song. I felt as if no one could stop me.

"Can...can we stop the music please," okay well my father could be the only exception, "Thank you. Now, I recently found out that Nessie had been wanting to practice her driving," Shit. He was going to rat me out in front of everyone that I took Emmett's Jeep. Wait, how did he know? I looked over at Emmett who was standing next to my father. Of course, he was smiling away. I glared at him, ignoring whatever my dad was saying. "But instead of using our cars, I think she deserves one of her own." I mean my dad could have a least waited until after the party to--wait. Did he say a car of my own?

I felt a sea of people rush me towards the front door. When I made it outside into the cool night, all I could do was gasp. In the driveway sat a deep burgundy Mercedes SL-Class (the only reason why I know the full name of the car is because I had been talking about it ever since I saw the commercial for it on TV). The hood was down, exposing the exact white leather interior I wanted. I looked over at my dad, whose arm was draped around my mother. They were both smiling as big as they could. "Go on Nessie. It's yours," my mom said.

I quickly walked towards the gorgeous automobile that was perfectly placed in our driveway. My hand scanned the outside until it reached the handle on the door of the driver's side. Once I opened it, I hopped in and sat in the most comfortable seat you could imagine. When I looked at everything inside of the car, I noticed the keys were already in the ignition. I then turned the keys until the engine rumbled. I was in heaven. Suddenly, I heard a knock on the passenger window.

"Ahh!" I screamed, looking over at the direction of the knock. The door then opened and Jacob's head popped in.

"Can I come in?"

"Uhh," I looked forward towards where all of my party guests should have been, but for some reason they were gone, "I guess."

My car began to shake back and forth as Jacob's large body squeezed itself inside. "Wow, now this is one amazing car." I didn't instantly reply, due to the fact that I was still shocked that my dream car finally came a reality.

"Yeah, isn't it--hey wait! Why are you here...again? Don't you ever call before coming over?"

Jacob just laughed and turned on the radio. Some type of foreign music began playing. "It's your birthday. And it's also your party. So, I came over to tell you happy birthday. And," Jacob exposed his right hand with a pink sparkly bag attached, "to give you this."

"You...you got me a present?" I asked, a big smile forming on my face. "But, we barely know each other and--"

"Just open it!"

"Okay, okay." I ripped open the bag, throwing the white tissue paper into the backseat of my car. When I felt something other than paper in the bag, I pulled out the gift. It was a wooden picture frame with carvings of all kinds of things around it. There were wolves, moons, a few flowers, and at the very bottom my name was engraved in a loopy font.

"So, what do you think?"

"It's gorgeous," was all I could say as I stared at the one-of-a-kind piece, "Did you make this?"

Jacob nodded and turned the music to a better station, with music we could actually understand. We both just sat there and listened as the melody filled our ears.

"So now that I'm finally sixteen, do you think you could possibly tell me about what happened with you and my parents?" I finally asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean why you have been such a big secret? The only reason I have come up with has to be that you guys fought or something and then they never mentioned you to me."

Jacob looked away from me and towards his feet. "Nothing happened between me and them."

"Bull. Then why didn't I know about you if you guys were so 'close'?" Yes, I did do the air quotes.

"Look Nessie," he said while looking back at me, "I'm not the one to tell you about the past. That's your parents' job. And possibly now since you're sixteen, they'll tell you." Ugh, this was useless. I will probably never find out any of the answers to any of the estimated millions of questions I had at that moment. "I got to go. I think somebody is coming," Jacob said while grabbing onto the door handle.

"What? No, wait," I grabbed onto Jacob's arm and he looked back at me, "You always leave way too early. Why can't you stay?"

"Because I wasn't invited. And I don't think crashers are welcome."

"Well I'm inviting you. Now, stay. Please?" I jokingly pulling on his arm, but accidentally pulled it too hard and before I knew it, his body had twisted and his face was just a few inches from mine. Now, in the movies this was where the girl and the boy would stare at each other with wide eyes and parted lips. This was the one part that the audience would be waiting for throughout the entire film and then when they would slowly move their faces together and their lips would touch, you would cheer and say "aww". Jacob's face got extremely close to mine then and my mind raced with different things like "I have no idea how to do this" and "Oh my gosh, I just ate like a handful of chips and french onion dip before" and "This does not feel right. Why?" Jacob's lips were barely touching mine before I moved my head back and gently pushed him away. "I can't do this."

Jacob then stared at me like he had done something horribly wrong. "I'm so sorry."

"Wait, why are you sorry? I should be the one saying sorry."

"No, it's just that I should have asked you if it was okay first and--"

"Woah, calm down Jake. It's fine. It's just that, umm, I don't really know you that well and I, umm, feel more like a friend with you."

"Oh," was all he said.

"Yeah."

Then there was silence between us.

"I really have to go now, though," Jacob finally said. I nodded and watched as he opened the door and got out of the car. He then turned back to me and peeked his head back in one last time. "Call me tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay. Wait! What's your number?"

"I left it for you in your room. Underneath your heart frame," he winked and then ran off into the woods beside my house. I sat in my car for a little bit longer, wondering why I didn't want to kiss Jake. I mean he was cute, funny, and seemed like someone who was fun to hang out with. And for some reason, I felt a pull towards him. Like, I wanted him around me and when he wasn't, I wanted him to be. But, it wouldn't have felt right. Wrong place. Wrong time. Wrong type of relationship. I felt as if we were to be just friends.

Finally, I had decided to get out of my car and go back to the party. When I opened my front door, I noticed everyone was having a great time dancing and chatting with one another. That is until I stepped inside. Right when my foot hit the floor, everyone in the room stared back at me. Their eyes were black. Their noses were scrunched.

*****


End file.
